Tivoli Gardens

Posted on apr 26, 2012

The unique contest of Tivoli, its landscape, art and history which includes the important ruins of ancient villas such as the Hadrian Villa, as well as a zone rich in caves and waterfalls, is the best location for the Villa d’Este, masterpiece of the Italian garden. With its impressive concentration of fountains, nymphs and grottoes is also the perfect tour in a hot Roman summer day.
Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, Governor of Tivoli, grandson of Pope Alexander VI Borgia and son of Lucretia Borgia, after the disappointment of a failed bid for the papacy, come to the idea of realizing a villa with a park in the hanging cliff of the “Valle Gaudente”. The extraordinary project by the architect Pirro Ligorio broght back to life here the splendor of the courts in the 16th century and revived the magnificence of the Hadrian Villa. The garden planning and water features were imitated and had an enormous influence in the next two centuries on European landscape design.